Consistent with the agency's enforcement policy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has issued a Notice of Violation -- but is not imposing a civil penalty -- against GPU Nuclear Corporation for infractions found at the utility's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. The violations were found during the most recent refueling and maintenance outage at TMI, located in Middletown, Pa.

The principal factor in the decision not to fine GPU was that under the NRC's enforcement policy, the utility was credited for efforts to identify the problems and take prompt and comprehensive corrective actions.

Agency officials and representatives of GPU Nuclear discussed the violations at a predecisional enforcement conference on December 22.

NRC concerns focused on a pressurizer power-operated relief valve (PORV) that was left inoperable from the time of a refueling and maintenance outage that ended in October 1995 until the most recent such outage, begun last September. This violation was classified as Severity Level III, for which fines are considered.

The NRC staff also cited GPU for two Severity Level IV violations: a failure to follow procedures while adding water to the Reactor Coolant System and a failure to perform detailed radiation surveys and to take actions to control the spread of radioactive particles.